G20 fallout: How a radical became a free speech martyr

To hear Alex Hundert tell it, Canada, and more specifically, Toronto, is a cruel and awful place, rife with systemic rot and racism, ill intentioned, over-armed and heavy-handed police thugs, a prison apparatus that swallows the innocent whole and a judicial system where there is no justice for the oppressed.

To listen to Alex Hundert tell it, a complementary pair of earplugs would have been nice. The young anarchist and alleged G20 riot ringleader held court at his lawyer’s office on Monday afternoon after appearing in court on Monday morning. The problem was not the decibel-level. It was Mr. Hundert’s subject matter: The System.

The System, you see, sucks. The System is repressive. The System “criminalizes dissent” and it needs to be replaced by any means necessary — if necessary. Such is the way an anarchist prattles on when speaking about, well, you know what.

And words, not to mention broken windows and burning police cars, are at the heart of Mr. Hundert’s legal troubles. The 30-year-old didn’t participate in Toronto’s Day of Mayhem last summer. He was arrested in a pre-dawn raid hours before the Black Bloc ran wild on the city’s streets on June 26 and police responded, honourably in most instances, but abysmally in others, to the chaos.

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In the months leading up to the riot, Mr. Hundert endorsed the Black Bloc’s window-shattering ways in speeches and in writings online, raging to the fringe from a pulpit in Kitchener-Waterloo where he works with a “community-based radical direct action group.”

Forget about Ghandi and peaceful protest: Mr. Hundert wanted a prizefight with the police.

“It is a zealous adherence to dogmatic ‘non-violence’ that shuts down any meaningful dialogue,” he wrote.

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And he got what he wanted. Toronto burned. Anarchy reigned, while the world’s leaders went about their business, oblivious to it all. Mr. Hundert was charged with three counts of conspiracy and released in July on $100,000 bail with multiple conditions attached, including not being able to participate in a public demonstration.

And this is where The System screwed him. In fact, it is where The System screwed us all, in a sense, even those of us who would rather have a kidney removed than listen to a young anarchist expound upon you know what.

The radical from the outer fringe is now a martyr for the free speech movement. Mr. Hundert didn’t last long on the streets after being released on bail. He participated in a panel discussion at Ryerson University in September. The event was held in a lecture hall. There were no placards. No shouts of give me freedom or give me death. No Black Bloc crazies busting up the place. Nothing, really, just people, about 200 of them, listening to a group of eggheads and invited guests — including Mr. Hundert — speak at an event dubbed: “Strengthening Our Resolve: Movement Building and Ongoing Resistance to the G20 Agenda.”

Police interpreted the gathering as a public demonstration and tossed Mr. Hundert back in jail. He was released in October on bail, only with an even tighter gag in place: he was banned from talking to the media. A few weeks later, he was back in jail again for another bail breach for reasons that have never been made clear.

And there he sat, silenced, smack in the belly of the hated beast until he was released last week after agreeing to a plea bargain with the Crown. A plea that acknowledged that the Ryerson event breached his bail conditions even though common sense — and a chorus of legal experts — says a university panel discussion does not a protest or a public demonstration make.

“I made this plea because I realized that I was doing no good to anyone in jail,” Mr. Hundert said.

On Monday, the media, but not the public, was invited to the office of the anarchist’s lawyer to hear what the alleged rabble-rouser had to say. Mr. Hundert wore a grey and black hat, and black-rimmed glasses. He has a beard and long hair that he ties back in a ponytail. His chest is broad. His boots are big, black and clunky. A silver chain hangs out of his pocket. He looks more like a radical dude than a radical anarchist. His next court appearance is a pre-trial hearing on Sept. 12 for the G20 charges.

Until then, he will be living with his father, observing his bail conditions, and trying to change, well, you know what.

“We have a feeling these days that there is a sense of inevitability of the system we have,” Mr. Hundert says. “It is a very young system. It changes quite rapidly. And while it is always hard to be prescriptive about what comes next, a look at history suggests that it is going to be replaced by something, soon enough.”